Luck of the Irish Night – Gloucester Park

Luck of the Irish Night – Gloucester Park

Claddagh’s main fundraising event for the 2015/2016 financial year was the second annual Irish night at the trots in Gloucester Park on Friday the 29th April 2016.

The night was a massive success with over 2,400 people braving the threat of rain & making their way through the gates. On the night we had ten exciting trot races, ‘ceol agus craic’ from the lively “Broken Pokers” who were in action throughout the night in the ‘Bookies VIP area’ under the Sir Frank Ledger Stand, along with the ever popular Fiona Rea and Jon Edwards (The Hold) keeping the crowd entertained between races on the track-side stage. Unfortunately, the wonderful dancers from the Keady Upton school of Irish Dancing were unable to be with us on the night as they were diligently preparing for the Sense of Ireland performance. We hope they can be with us at next year’s event and look forward to seeing them perform in the near future.

Unfortunately, the weather broke around 8.30pm which forced a lot of people (including our VIP race sponsors) to watch the remaining races under of one of Gloucester Parks many covered areas. The rain only dampened the track and not the mood however, as it did mean that even more people had a chance to listen to the Broken Pokers doing what they do best and belting out some great tunes whilst seeing the remaining few horses cross the line from a distance in the last few races. The wonderful Gaelic Girls Irish Dancing Troupe were also at hand to perform on the night, much to the delight of everyone, treating race goers to some of their usual world class Irish dancing performances.

As the rain left the track quite slippery and did not break for long after 8.30pm, we were regrettably forced to cancel the 2016 Sulky Race for the year, which was earmarked to be the eleventh race of the night – much to the disappointment of this year’s contenders, along with the crowd who were very much looking forward to seeing people they know race down the front straight of the track pulling a sulky with passenger on board.

The Claddagh Association raised a very impressive sum of $18,112 at this year’s event and would like to sincerely thank everyone who helped out in any way, including Gloucester Park and their brilliant staff for hosting the event and keeping the Guinness flowing till late, the volunteers on the night selling raffle tickets along with The Hold, the Broken Pokers and the Gaelic Girls Irish Dancing Troupe for providing the night’s entertainment.

The Claddagh Association would also like to make special mention to our very generous race sponsors listed below along with all of the businesses & companies that donated raffle prizes.